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Mushrooms, explained properly

How to choose a mushroom extract, what the studies of Lion’s Mane, Reishi and Cordyceps show, and how we grow mushrooms from a clean culture. Written by the people who make the extracts.

Research

Posts · 3

A closer look at mushroom research: what we know and what still needs testing.

Close-up of a white Lion's Mane mushroom (Hericium erinaceus) with its coral-like cascade of hanging spines.
Research5 min read

Lion’s Mane: benefits, research and how to take it

What human studies say about Lion’s Mane, memory and focus, where the evidence is limited, and how to read the instructions for a liquid mushroom extract.

A hard, varnished reddish-brown reishi bracket (Ganoderma lucidum) growing on dead hardwood.
Research6 min read

Reishi mushroom: benefits, research and how to take it

Reishi and Ganoderma lucidum: research on fatigue, questions about sleep, the limits of the evidence, and instructions for using and storing our liquid extract.

Bright orange Cordyceps militaris fruiting bodies growing as slender clubs from a lab substrate.
Research5 min read

Cordyceps: benefits, endurance research and how to take it

What Cordyceps militaris is, how it differs from wild cordyceps, what endurance studies show, and how to use and store the Mushroom Matters liquid extract.

Practical guides

Posts · 7

Step-by-step mushroom cultivation and extract selection guides.

Practical guides · Step 18 min read

Cloning mushrooms: the full protocol, from still-air box to petri dish

Tear the fruit body open, take 2 mm of interior flesh, cool the blade on agar: the still-air-box protocol that copies a strain instead of gambling on spores.

Practical guides · Step 27 min read

Agar in Mycology: Isolation, Purity, and a Strain Library You Control

Why a stack of petri dishes changes your results: a 2% agar home recipe, sterilising at 121 °C, streaking down to one colony, and a fridge library of strains.

Practical guides · Step 36 min read

Liquid Mycelium: Growing Fungi From a Living Culture, Not a Spore Print

A spore syringe is dormant; liquid culture is a fungus already awake. How to mix the broth, sterilise the jar, and tell fluffy strands from bacterial haze.

Practical guides · Step 45 min read

Grain spawn: how to grow it, step by step

Between a clean culture and a full substrate sits a jar of colonised grain. Rinsing, the 12-hour soak, sterilising at 121 °C, and the 10–14 days after.

Practical guides · Step 55 min read

Growing Oyster Mushrooms at Home: Cheap, Fast, and Worth the Shelf Space

One block the size of a loaf, straw or spent coffee grounds for food, a first harvest near day 25: how oyster mushrooms earn their place on a kitchen shelf.

Lion’s Mane: mycelium or fruiting body?
Practical guides3 min read

Lion’s Mane: mycelium or fruiting body?

How Lion’s Mane mycelium differs from the fruiting body, why the growing medium matters, and what to check when choosing an extract, powder or capsules.

Practical guides3 min read

Mushroom extract, powder or capsules: how to choose

Compare mushroom powders, capsules and liquid extracts by their contents and serving instructions. A guide to labels, bottle size and buying in Armenia.